Chapter 15: Bud, You Literally Tried To Kidnap My Friend
When it came to other people's fights, Steven was the type of person who would sit by the sideline with a bag of popcorn in hand.
But when it's his turn to fight?
He wasn't the kind to spout nonsense.
Victory speeches and witty lines could wait until after the battle. In a fight, all that mattered was fighting. Running your mouth didn't add damage, after all.
So, the moment his Netherite Sword severed the arm of the old village chief who had rushed in to take Gladiia away, Steven didn't hesitate for even a breath—he swung his sword again.
The strike was so fast that even the Inquisitor girl, who was watching from the side, couldn't see how he had moved.
A flash of steel shimmered coldly through the air, and the old man collapsed onto his knees.
Both of his legs had been cut clean off at the knee.
Perhaps it was the sheer speed of it, but only once his body hit the dirt did the pain finally register, and a muffled groan spilled out from his mouth.
In just a brief clash, a man who had looked like nothing more than a harmless old villager was reduced to nothing more than a mutilated stump of flesh.
"If you'd come for me, I would have just let you and see what you are planning to do. But going after an amnesiac girl? Have you no shame?"
Once he confirmed the old man was no longer a threat, Steven's smile returned. He crouched beside him casually.
His cuts had been deliberate—deep enough to cripple, but not enough to let him bleed out too quickly.
As Steven had said, he could stomach people coming after him. What he couldn't abide was anyone targeting the people at his side.
He knew his own strength. But when it came to those beside him… could they really withstand it?
Best to remove the threat beforehand.
"Hey, little miss over there! Think you can handle that mob? If not, why not draw your sword already? You won't solve everything with just the scabbard. They're taking advantage of your kindness. As a law enforcer, sometimes the only way to protect more people is to stand firm."
He called out across the square, watching the girl still caught up with the group of villagers.
Compared to the earlier wave, these villagers were even weaker, thinner, frailer. He sighed as he warned her.
The moment she refused to draw her blade against those blocking her path, she had already shown her weakness. And that was precisely why the village chief had sent out this bunch of old, sickly, and frail villagers the second time around.
The softer your heart, the harder it was to strike at people like these.
On that point, the old man had a cruelly sharp grasp of human nature.
It was no wonder he thought he had a chance to turn things around in the chaos.
The only thing he hadn't calculated was the fact that the mysterious boy that had wandered into his village was far stronger than he could ever have imagined.
"I don't need advice from the likes of you. Worry about yourself, Ægir."
Though clearly shaken by the sudden slash she'd witnessed, the girl regained her composure quickly. With a huff of defiance, she lifted her lantern once again, suppressing the villagers pressing in on her with sheer force of will.
The mysterious Ægir might have had a point, but she had her own principles she refused to yield.
"Heh. Pretty stubborn. But I like that. Look at that, she's way more likable than you. If you were a little more like her, things between us wouldn't have ended up like this, don't you think?"
Steven lowered his gaze again, speaking directly to the old man who was gritting his teeth so hard he refused to let the pain wring a scream out of him.
"You… you dog of the Inquisition."
The curse hissed out between the old man's clenched teeth, his bloodshot eyes glaring up at Steven as though they could bleed.
"Oh? Wasn't this between you and me? Why drag the Inquisition into it? I don't know what kind of love-hate drama you've got with them, but you went for my friend just now—that's why you ended up like this. Try to understand what you did wrong first, would you?"
Steven's voice stayed as calm as ever, almost detached.
He even took the time to lay out the sequence of events, like a teacher correcting a student.
"I already told you before, right? You two fight it out—whoever wins, I'll listen to. But you were the one who ran and tried to do a quick kidnap. And now you have the gall to call me names?"
That left the old man choking on his own rage, mouth opening and closing, unable to find a single argument to throw back.
"And another thing—between the two of us, you're the real lapdog, aren't you? Isn't that right… Village Chief Pande, traitor to humanity, servant of the Seaborn?"
Steven's grin widened.
From the very beginning, the name glowing above the man's head—[Fanatical Devotee of the Deep Sea: Pande]—had given the old man allegiance away.
"…"
"You don't understand anything!" Pande finally roared, his voice breaking the silence. "To survive—what's wrong with cooperating with them? No— they're our true kin! It's you, the Inquisition, all of you land-dwelling cannibals, who are the true monsters!"
He no longer cared about hiding it. He knew escape was impossible, so he let his true feelings spill.
Were those beings rising from the deep sea truly monsters? Not necessarily, after all, without them, his village would have perished long ago.
When they were starving, where was the Inquisition? When they were dying, where was the Inquisition?
It was the creatures of the abyss who brought them food, who gave them a sliver of hope to cling to.
And yet the Inquisition came only to take even that away. How could he not despise them?
Steven, however, neither knew nor cared about any of that. And even if he did know, he'd probably just shrug—he wasn't the type to sympathize with someone who just seconds ago tried to kidnap someone under his wing.
He won't pretend that little things never happen like some kind of saint, hell, he probably can't be considered a good person.
After years of solitude in Minecraft filled with insanely scary Modded Mobs that tried to maim him every night, the fact that he's not Joker level insane and tried to burn the world down is already a miracle.
The only thing that mattered to him was this: these villagers had tried to lay hands on Gladiia. That was all the justification he needed to think of these villagers as his enemies.
"Lantern girl. You heard it yourself—he admits he betrayed humanity. I'm not with him."
That's why, even after listening to Pande's outburst, Steven's expression didn't change. And with a smiling face, he turned to the young girl who was finishing subduing the rest of the villagers and approaching him.
"I'll leave him to you for judgment. I just want to ask him one last thing."
Standing, the Minecrafter nudged the old man's severed legs with his boot—no trace of respect for the elderly whatsoever.
"So tell me, old man. What's your reason? Why go out of your way to target my… companion? I'm curious. What makes her so special?"
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M